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Thursday, 9 January 2014

The Book Thief Infection

I was invited by a bunch of friends to go out and see The Book Thief movie with them (it only just came out in Australia), and thought that I'd better start the book first! I've been meaning to read the book for a while now but with all the books I've had to review and all the new books I've been adding to my TBR pile, it's just gotten buried under everything else.

And.

Well.

Today I finally started it.

I also watched the movie today, it actually only finished about an hour ago. Since I got around to reading the book a little later than planned, plus it was my sister's birthday so that cut down reading time, I only got about two thirds of the way through but I'd read enough to pretty much know what happens.

I was not prepared.

I started reading the book at approximately 11am and read it through with minimal interruptions until 3pm. I was lost in Liesel's world, submerged in her life for a straight four hours before I was pulled back to reality by little girl's eighth birthday party.

Then my mind was flooded by Leisel again.

The Book Thief is fantastic and I can't really compare the movie and the book, because for me they have become the same thing. I spent today immersing myself in Leisel and her world and views and loves and life and the book and the movie have merged into one big emotional... thingbeingsoul! I'm not sure of the right word for it all I know is that it has really affected me. Not necessarily in a bad way or a good way. It has just affected me.

I am affected.

I don't think there is much more I can say really. I have found I can get quite emotionally involved with things. I don't just mean they make me cry, or they make me laugh, it's that things claw their way deep inside to my very soul and lodge themselves there until the only thing I can do to release myself is to laugh. Or cry. Or write my feelings out in a very long blog post..

Words.

Stories.

People.

These are the things that change me and shape me. They affect me and infect me and though there is pain and sadness, I would not trade these feelings for anything.

The last time I felt this way was after I watched the last episode of the new Battlestar Galactica series. My boyfriend and I had spent the past few weeks watching episode after episode, season after season, until the characters had become real friends, real people, and their feelings had become our feelings. The final episode was just full of so many emotions. There was everything.

Sadness.

Happiness.

Endings

Beginnings.

So much was going on and I felt everything so keenly that even I'd wanted to I wouldn't have been able to stop the tears. For weeks afterwards I still couldn't talk about that last episode, or even think about it, without all those feelings flooding me again. Even now, months after I watched it, I can still feel those emotions stirring in my soul though they have calmed down enough to stop me from spontaneously bursting into tears all the time. The Book Thief has had the same effect, and though I haven't quite finished the book yet, I think I'm going to have to wait at least a few days before I can pick it back up again. I need to let everything come back together again. I need to breathe.

I know a lot of people really loved this book and I'm sure some of you felt the same things I'm feeling. I think I know of at least one person who is going through the same thing as me right now. I am so full of Liesel that I think I might burst, in a good kind of way though, if you can burst in a good way.

This post is more for me than anyone else, to try and release the tumultuous mess of emotions running through me, and so far it is working quite well. I feel calmer, but still in touch with it all. Now to finish this long post I'm going to share my first favourite sentence from this book. It was in the second chapter, page 7 of my version, and it just seems so fitting and perfect that it stuck with me. I'm sure most of you know this and for those who don't it's no spoiler, the narrator of this book is death. He pretty much gives his identity away in the first few sentences so I'm not spoiling much, and the first sentence in this book that really stood out to me, that shot from the page and grabbed me, was about death and I think it is perfect.

That sort of immersionary experience can leave a strong lasting impression. I listened to the audio book of The Book Thief which I found difficult to get through, though I don't fault the book at all, just the format. I've heard mixed reviews on the movie so I've held off. Glad to hear you liked it so much, I'll have to check out the movie when it's on DVD.

I would like to alert my readers that my opinions are my own and I am not being paid for my reviews. All books not bought are given to me freely and are accepted for an honest review. Receiving ARC's and/or free review copies in no way influences the opinions expressed in my reviews.